Politics & Government

1:54 am

Sat March 22, 2014

Roy Moore Issues Dissent in Obama Citizenship Case

Ala. Chief Justice Roy Moore says the Ala. Secretary of State should have determined if President Obama was qualified to be on a state ballot. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Chief Justice Roy Moore says Alabama's secretary of state should have been required to determine whether President Obama was born in the United States and qualified to be on the state ballot in 2012. The all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court's dismissal of a case that sought to require the secretary of state to demand a birth certificate from presidential candidates. Moore and Justice Tom Parker dissented. Moore writes the secretary of state is a gatekeeper and has a duty to determine if candidates are natural-born U.S. citizens. Parker said plaintiffs presented documentation that raise "serious questions" about Obama's birth certificate. Two other Supreme Court justices, Mike Bolin and Tommy Bryan, say the secretary of state doesn't have the authority or ability to investigate candidates' qualifications.